


I'm Watching

by YetForNothing



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: AKA how Victor fell in love, Character Study, M/M, Post ep. 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 05:38:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8785246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YetForNothing/pseuds/YetForNothing
Summary: Their first meeting to the proverbial "moment of truth" in the GPF, told through a character study of Victor Nikiforov.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Um, so who else is freaking the fuck out about the wonderfulness that was ep. 10??? Because I am. Like I watched it, sketched our lovely boys and then wrote this in the next two hours. 
> 
> Anyways, this is me just indulging myself. I like writing in Victor's POV, surprisingly. I hope I did him justice, so please leave me some feedback.

_Japanese people were supposed to be reserved,_ Victor thinks. He watches as the small and reserved Katsuki Yuuri lets loose on the banquet room floor. Quite literally, he might add as he sees the various articles of clothing flying everywhere. Even Yurachka is caught up in the mayhem despite his initial very vocal grumbling. The fifteen year old moves with vigor, getting caught up in the Japanese man's enthusiasm. It makes Victor stare in awe, his eyes affixed appreciatively over Yuuri's body. One man has so easily captured everyone's attention, with his flushed cheeks and surprisingly concise movements. Even the crowd that while looks on disapprovingly, does not make any move to actually stop him. They are as enraptured as Victor is. 

Such a waste, he comments internally for almost a passing moment. If he had shown such personality on the ice, he might have been up there with Victor himself. That thought contradicts itself immediately however, because Victor knows that what Yuuri is showing right now, what he is capable of, it's not a competitive motion. Whether Yuuri is dancing or if he was skating, his movements feel gentle, like the caressing touches of a lover. 

Victor watches, his lips twitching up in a smile as Yuri finally escapes his name-twin's clutches. Yuuri, on the other hand, doesn't seem perturbed but pulls in Christophe instead, compelling the blond to shed his layers and join him at the pole that has somehow magically appeared in the middle of the banquet hall. 

Christophe goes eagerly, stripping straight down to his underwear. Scandalized gasps are heard through the room but they're drowned out by energetic howls urging them on. The hum of salsa music fills the air and Christophe hoots, taking Yuuri by the waist and, well, grinding, for a lack of a better word. 

Victor goes a bit pink, his mouth hanging open in shock. He sees Yuri out of the corner of his eye looking more terrified than Victor has ever seen him. Victor almost wants to dissuade the two dancers, but when Yuuri thrusts his hips, it sort of takes all the fight out of him. 

It's no secret that Victor lives for parties, but after handling the pole almost expertly, when Yuuri sees Victor looking and gives him a sultry beckon, he nearly refuses. Just about. But both Christophe and Yuuri pull him in, and he gets lost in it. The music takes over his brain, and he imagines he's on the ice. The hands on his waist are small but not quite as small as any partner he's had. He looks and Yuuri's reddened face grins at him. He's still enticing, moving his hips and flexing muscles as he strings Victor along but with that same gentle tone to it. 

Anything this man does is so personal, Victor realizes. It's like it's directly from his heart. It feels so intimate and it invokes a strange sensation in Victor's chest. He forgets it quickly, though, and lets himself go in the exhilaration of the moment. This, he knows. The high of excitement and a bit of alcohol buzzing through your blood. This, he knows. 

When the night draws to a close, Victor is still up there somewhere, flashing well practiced smiles and shooting winks through the air. Behind him, Yuri stands irritably. That's nothing new, so Victor turns his attention away with an airy laugh. 

A sudden weight attaches itself to his stomach, and he sees the dopiest look on Yuuri's face as he cries out his name. Yuuri's amusing but still eloquent dances had melted away into laughable and downright raunchy as the evening progessed. Some wise soul had the good sense to realize that that was the cue to metaphorically close up shop, and the invitees began to trickle out. Christophe is one of the last to leave, along with the yet waiting Yuri and Yakov, but he doesn't do so before blowing a flirty wink and kiss to Yuuri on his way. Victor somewhat irrationally tightens his hold on the younger man, although this would make sense to him later on. 

Yuuri cheerfully garbles out an invitation for Victor to come to his family resort and with it comes the most heartfelt request for Victor to be his coach. It startles him, and it makes something fond grow in his chest. 

Of course he doesn't take it seriously. He bids farewell as Yuuri leaves whilst hanging off of his coach, and he thinks nothing of it past that. The next day, when he sees Yuuri at the airport, the fond feeling in his chest returns as he asks Yuuri about the commemorative photo. It's mystifying when Yuuri flashes him a hurt look and turns away without a word. 

The world moves on as usual for Victor. He trains, the feeling of gliding on the ice familiar and comfortable. But he realizes that now there's a lackluster quality to it. He has no inspiration. Yakov gives him that same exasperated look when Victor tells him so, but he is the 5-time Grand Prix Champion so Yakov just puts it into one of Victor's quirks. Yuri chortles, then turns to show his latest combination on the ice.

Victor goes on runs, a variety of music running through his earbuds as the scenery passes him by. But it's all familiar and recognizable. Makkachin is a constant companion that whines when Victor gets that defeated look on his face. It's been months and there's been no change. The heavy feeling on his heart is still there, and his usual flare is gone. He feels like an artist stripped of tools, and it leaves him confused because he has everything, the rink, his skates, the music and his body, alongside him. What else could he possibly need? 

That all changes when he sees Katsuki Yuuri's rendition of Victor's own Stay by Me. The heaviness in his heart is enveloped by a vast illumination, leaving him breathless. Yuuri has captured his heart once again, and looking back now, Victor thinks this must've been when he fell in love. The video ends and he watches it over and over again, wanting ever so desperately to experience that same elation once again. It's no surprise then, with his tenacity, when he finds himself in a little, tiny town in Japan. 

Victor doesn't know what he's getting into when he shows up in Hasetsu. He doesn't know what he expects, feeling all sorts of things when he meets Yuuri for the second time. It's been a long time since he's felt that excitement, and he wants to feel it again. That's the only thing driving him, but he's still prepared for disappointment. He doesn't know Yuuri well enough, this is all based off of one simple feeling, and really, Victor is a more rational person than anyone gives him credit of being. 

It's almost a relief then, when Yuri Plisetsky shows up in Japan demanding Victor come back to Russia. The teenager barges through the small town, bringing with him a life. When Victor watches him skate, he feels pride and a myraid of other things that come with watching something you've cultivated yourself grow, but it's missing something. It's not what he needs and that hopelessness threatens to cover his life once more. 

He's always been watching. All his life, he's watched with wide eyes. When he's on the rink, the faces of the audience, the judges, his coach and supporters go flying by. When he's on the other side, he sees the movements of his opponents, mapping their fluidity and grace in his mind. Pictures have always struck with him, far more so than words, and it makes him wonder sometimes. It always feels like he's looking for something. And he lies awake at night, thinking, what could it possibly be that he is searching for? 

It turns out, he underestimated both his younger charges. Yuri, while he lacks applying himself personally in his programs, manages to engage the audience and he conveys his emotions. It could've been better, it's not the agape he was looking for, but the spirit that the blond brings with his performance is what impresses Victor. Even Yuuri is taken in by it, and he presents himself more confidently, an aura about him worthy of his talent. 

And when he dances, those arms and hips moving languidly along the hum of the music, Victor realizes himself as falling in love. 

And again, when his darling protégé dances to his original _Yuri on Ice_ , Victor falls and falls and falls. 

He enters a place in his psyche that he didn't realize that he could reach when it wasn't he himself on the ice. When Yuuri does the quadruple flip, the unexpected joy and pride and amazement fill him, and he wonders momentarily when Yuuri catches his eye from across the rink, whether it was this that he was looking for. 

It's all that that brought them here, after all. This is essential their last battle, their moment of truth. The Grand Prix Finals. A year and eight months after Victor Nikiforov first meets the phenomena that is to be Katsuki Yuuri, Barcelona, Spain, stands unknowingly in wait. Victor watches still, in the dead of the night when they're both settled into bed, the light glinting off of his ring. That ring, more than any of his medals, holds so much pride and happiness that he thinks he might burst. He has the utmost faith in his charge, who has ignited the flame in his heart. Because Victor knows that the performance Yuuri is going to show him tomorrow is the most intimate and personal that he has ever seen. 

And like every time else, Victor knows he's going to fall in love with it.


End file.
